I n t h I s c h a p t e r y o u w I l L

A
NNUAL
F
AMILY
I
NCOME
P
ERCENT OF
F
AMILIES
Less than $15,000
11.7%
$15,000-$24,999
12.3
$25,000-$34,999
12.7
$35,000-$49,999
16.8
$50,000-$74,999
21.5
$75,000-$99,999
11.7
$100,000 and over
13.3
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census.

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4 4 0
PA R T S I X
T H E E C O N O M I C S O F L A B O R M A R K E T S
C A S E S T U D Y
THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT AND
THE INCOME DISTRIBUTION
Over the past several decades, there has been a dramatic change in women’s
role in the economy. The percentage of women who hold jobs has risen from
about 32 percent in the 1950s to about 54 percent in the 1990s. As full-time
homemakers have become less common, a woman’s earnings have become a
more important determinant of the total income of a typical family.
Although the women’s movement has led to more equality between men
and women in access to education and jobs, it has also led to less equality in fam-
ily incomes. The reason is that the rise in women’s labor-force participation has
not been the same across all income groups. In particular, the women’s move-
ment has had its greatest impact on women from high-income households.
Women from low-income households have long had high rates of participation
in the labor force, even in the 1950s, and their behavior has changed much less.
In essence, the women’s movement has changed the behavior of the wives
of high-income men. In the 1950s, a male executive or physician was likely to
marry a woman who would stay at home and raise the children. Today, the wife
of a male executive or physician is more likely to be an executive or physician
herself. The result is that rich households have become even richer, a pattern
that raises inequality in family incomes.
has received about 4 to 5 percent of income, while the top fifth has received about
40 to 50 percent of income. Closer inspection of the table reveals some trends in the
degree of inequality. From 1935 to 1970, the distribution gradually became more
equal. The share of the bottom fifth rose from 4.1 to 5.5 percent, and the share of
the top fifth fell from 51.7 percent to 40.9 percent. In more recent years, this trend
has reversed itself. From 1970 to 1998, the share of the bottom fifth fell from 5.5
percent to 4.2 percent, and the share of the top fifth rose from 40.9 to 47.3 percent.
In Chapter 19 we discussed some of the reasons for this recent increase in in-
equality. Increases in international trade with low-wage countries and changes in
technology have tended to reduce the demand for unskilled labor and raise the de-
mand for skilled labor. As a result, the wages of unskilled workers have fallen rel-
ative to the wages of skilled workers, and this change in relative wages has
increased inequality in family incomes.
Ta b l e 2 0 - 2
I
NCOME
I
NEQUALITY IN THE
U
NITED
S
TATES
.
This table
shows the percent of total before-
tax income received by families
in each fifth of the income
distribution and by those
families in the top 5 percent.